Jones and Smalling: should Arsenal care?

August 6, 2011

I’ve always had the impression that the stories about Arsenal matching the offers of manu for Smalling and Jones only to be turned down as being a yarn purposely spun by the manu PR machine in a sad attempt to redress the balance after we publicly rubbed their noses in it for missing out on Ramsey. It is worth remembering that Ramsey was a self confessed manu supporter as a kid, it is also worth remembering just how much the Arsenal PR machine revelled in telling anyone who would listen that it was the fact that Arsène Wenger interrupted his summer holiday to speak to Ramsey and family personally rather than the mere Gary Neville who manu sent that swayed team Ramsey’s final decision to sign to the good guys.

It makes very little sense for Smalling and Jones to have wanted to sign for Arsenal regardless of what we offered whereas it makes complete sense for them to want to sign for manu. In the pecking order up there they only have Vidic and Ferdinand in front of them, the latter of the two is, as we all know, becoming more and more injury prone meaning that either Smalling or Jones will have a serious chance of breaking into that first team in the not too distant future.

At Arsenal, by contrast, they would have to get passed Vermaelen, Koscielny and Djourou. I have never been one of those people who believes the grass is always redder in Manchester and I refuse to start now. Koscielny and Djourou are better than Smalling and Jones and Vermealen is better than them all.

Very simply, the manc pair have a better chance of first team football in the red half of Manchester than they do with us and that above all was, in my opinion, the reason why they signed for who they did and the very same reason that Ramsey signed for Arsenal.

Let’s sign Cahill.

I love the way so many Arsenal supporters trot that line out. Whenever I read it I want to ask the author: how many times have you been to the Reebok to see him play? Most people who cry out for him to be signed have next to no idea just how good he really is. I have never been to the Reebok but there is nothing that I have ever seen that convinces me that Cahill is better than Koscielny. That being the case, why on earth would Cahill give up the opportunity of playing first team football to sit on our bench? I know injuries are common but what if we don’t get our usual quota? He could waste one of the most important years of his football development due to lack of playing opportunity and let’s not forget that we are not Man City who can afford to double someone’s wages as compensation for rotting on a bench. Cahill will want to play first team football and that will not be guaranteed at Arsenal so for the same reason that Smalling and Jones never came to THOF I do not expect to us to sign Cahill.

Don’t get me wrong.

I might think that Vermaelen and Koscielny are a better combination than Cahill and either of those two along side him but that is not to say that I think everything is rosy in Arsenal’s defensive garden. The idea of going into the coming season with Squillaci in the squad fills me with horror; he is about as mobile as a wooden stake driven into the ground; Bartley would be a better fourth choice CB but like Cahill a season of potentially warming the bench at Arsenal was never going to float his boat — solution: Jagielka, he can play anywhere along the back as well as giving Song a bit of competition for the DM spot. The Englishman with a Polish name offers as many possibilities to the defence as the Ivorian with a Brazilian name offers to the attack.

So Arsène, as soon as you have had your coffee this morning here’s what to do: sign Jagielka, sort the Nasri contract out, tell Barcelona to sling their hook and we are good to go.

Written by London

175 Comments | Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
Posted by LB

Members Day…….Will Cesc rain on our parade?

August 5, 2011

Written by Harry

Well it was an early start as I had to get my eldest boy, Luke, to the ground for 0930hrs, as he was due to meet the squad as a thank you for been a ball boy last season……..So Reece, my youngest, and I were at the ground nice and early with little going on, supposedly there was meant to be more happening, but perhaps the rain stopped that….

Anyway as a complete random side note, as I was waiting at the turnstiles, an old school mate tipped up, hadn’t seen him for 23years!! So chatting away blew some time  as we waited to get in.

Finally at about 11.20hrs we got let in, one of the stewards mentioned due to the bad weather that the Photo shoot had been cancelled. But the main issue that was on everyone’s lips was whether Cesc was present and also was Nasri about or had he been snaffled away by the Arabs…

Well they were both there amongst some other notable attendees and some equally noticeable absentees…..

The youngsters that have seemingly been promoted to the first team are, Frimpong, Lansbury, Afobe and Miyachi (still waiting for a special talent visa), Bartley was absent despite signing an extension yesterday, so back out on loan maybe? {Just announced on SSN for a season back to Rangers} Personally he would be in my squad and at the expense of Squillaci…

Almunia was absent, Eboue was about but not involved in the training waiting for his move to be finalised? Nasri came out and had a very gentle warm up, but didn’t take part in the training matches due to an ankle knock.  Bendtner was there and not in Portugal……. My son had asked him if he was staying and initially he said NO, but then he backed down and said things hadn’t been decided yet……..?

After a warm up and some simple passing, the first training match saw an eleven aside match on a shortened pitch, Bendtner smashed in a corking goal, 9million? Easily worth that on that form.  Lansbury scored a long range effort to put the greens 2 up….

Benik Afobe who looked sharp and very much capable at this level, sold his marker and finished with aplomb for the whites….. Bendtner sealed a 3-1 win with his second.

Cesc although involved throughout and showing a great range of passing, his body language was cold, sullied and distant, he did have moments where he seemed to defrost his exterior…….but you could sense that not all was settled yet…….

It was an interesting game, with various players standing out for me, but looking at the newbies and young-uns. Jenkinson looks very capable and will push Sagna this season, Frimpong looks like an ox. Ryo was also showing glimpses of his ability. And Lansbury can shoot from distant unlike 99% of our squad. Benik Afobe could be an asset this season from the bench……

Then the players split into two groups and conducted an attacking practice, with crossovers, crossing and finishing the main areas of the practice.

The stand out moment for me was when, Cesc tried to lob Szczesny, he managed to get a hand to it, it fell to Chamakh, Szczesny beat it away and then again before Cesc rifled it in. Our young pole looks well up for it and his confidence is certainly flowing…….

After that the squad broke into three teams and had a 3 way tournament, of note there was a sublime finish from Van Persie, Bendtner scored some more and Afobe made his mark with a couple.

Walcott was a lone trainer getting put through his paces by Tony Colbert the fitness coach, he looked to be moving freely so looks good for the season opener hopefully….

After this there were some penalty shootouts and crossbar challenges with selected fans. Then the players volleyed some balls into the crowd.  As the players walked away, Cesc came over and signed a few items and had his picture taken with some fans, my Reece was one of them…..

So it was a good day for the Fans, but unfortunately none the wiser as to what will our squad be when the season starts…….

Our opponents will be drawn today for the Champions League Qualifier and I understand the Squad numbers for the season will be announced……..

The new season is getting closer and the excitement is building as is the anti-Wenger feelings amongst some fans, who have judged him already.  For me he has till the transfer window to convince me we have a good season ahead of us……..I just have a bad feeling, no one else is coming in………….

He only has to December before I start asking serious questions……..But I will never boo……….

196 Comments | Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by peachesgÖÖner

David Dein – Judas or Guru?

August 3, 2011

Several weeks ago London (the blogger) sent in this short post giving his reaction to the call to get DD involved in some capacity with Arsenal again:-

Question: If you were the agent of any grade A player and were in the process of concluding a transfer would you finish it speedily or would you wait and see if the new Chelsea manager was interested in signing your player? Bear in mind that if it turns out that he is you would, of course, probably be able to add an extra thirty grand to your player’s weekly wages.

So, with this in mind, spare a thought for the constraints that Gazidis is working under.

The other thing that should be borne in mind is that this is not a situation that David Dein had to deal with when he was involved in signing Bergkamp. Although, what many people forget is that he did have to deal with these constraints just before he departed. He was the principle negotiator in the Ashley Cole deal; and for all you romantics who believe that with his return things would be back to the good old days when we used to sign players like DB10 you should remember that that turned out to be an embarrassing disaster.

Rasp’s response

It may be that DD would have fared no better than the current administration in procuring the players that many clamour for, but he is a highly respected figure in world football who was pivotal in the metamorphosis of the club under Arsène Wenger.

He helped his friend Danny Fiszman to get onto the Board. Fiszman subsequently became the main driving force behind the move to Ashburton Grove, although it is widely reported that Dein was against the project.

Dein’s football pedigree is impressive. He was on the board of the Football League  Management Committee and subsequently achieved a place on the FA Council. He was also one of the major architects of the Premier League  in 1992. He was the President of the G-14 group of European football clubs between October 2006 and May 2007 and has sat on various committees within FIFA and UEFA’s  including UEFA’s Club Competition Committee and Executive Committee.

Let’s also not forget that he was responsible for bringing in Arsène Wenger. He  remains a close friend and confidante to this day. In fact, he may be one of the few individuals in the club’s administration who can influence Arsène’s footballing decisions. Together they were an effective and balanced partnership……..

….and together they  signed the likes of  Patrick Vieira, Emmanuel Petit, Marc Overmars, Thierry Henry, Davor Suker, Robert Pires, Sol Campbell, Gilberto, Gael Clichy, Kolo Toure, Cesc Fabregas and Robin Van Persie – not a bad catalogue of players.

God only knows what Dein’s motivation was in selling his shares and then the ill advised association with Red and White Holdings, but it is also worth noting that he was thrown out because of the manner of his attempt to get a certain Stan Kroenke involved in Arsenal – and look where we are now!

All I know is that when Dein spoke you felt he could be trusted. His rapport extended from top to bottom at Arsenal. He had time for everyone from the tea lady to the players and most importantly he was respected by the Press. He communicated without the rehearsed sugar-coated spin we are expected to consume these days. At this time when our transfer dealings seem to be painful, protracted and often fruitless, a man like Dein could make the difference.

David Dein has already played a huge role in the creation of the modern Arsenal and I for one would welcome him back.

233 Comments | Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by LB

Szczesny – Arsenal’s No 1?

August 2, 2011

Written by Gooner in Exile

With the season fast approaching and yet another summer passing without the departure of Almunia and without the arrival of the much craved experienced custodian I thought it would be a good time to assess our current goalkeeping line up against the rest of the top four wannabes.

So let’s look at our current crop first.

Szczesny – aged 21 – this lad is the real deal in my opinion. A good communicator, confident to come for the high ball, and an excellent starfish approach to deal with one on ones. There are still a couple of areas for improvement one is decision making under pressure the mad rush out for a 50:50 through ball which will come with experience. The other is his kicking which again will come with age and strength development but is such a necessity in the modern game, especially as we as a team so often lose the fifty-fifty ball that the kick needs to be competed twenty yards past halfway line rather than on it.

At 6ft 5 he provides an imposing figure in the goal although for me I would like to see him fill out a bit as a bit of extra padding for a goalkeeper is useful when being challenged in mid air.

One thing that does not appear to be an issue is his confidence, he appears to have an arrogant streak about him, which all the best keepers need, even after the Carling cup final he came back to give a good display against Sunderland before being injured against Barca. It is these moments of error where only the keeper is to blame and how the keeper responds to it that truly separates the great from the good keepers.

Half a season of top flight football under the belt will have benefited him. Perhaps the best thing that has been said about him was from his Brentford manager Andy Scott during his loan spell during 2009-10. “It has reached the stage where when he lets in a goal we wonder why he hasn’t saved it.”

Fabianski age 26 – I believe he has had enough chances, whilst his general keeping improved last season there is still an underlying weakness in his basics, in my opinion he snatches at the ball which leaves him vulnerable to fumbling it, and for me is too jumpy on his feet.

The only keeper around our rivals that I could liken him to is Gomes, the same scruffiness to the style of keeping which concerns me when watching. He is 6ft 3 but somehow he manages to make himself look 5ft 9.

Mannone – aged 23, again not good enough for the Nunber One shirt although he is a good shot stopper. Like Szczesny he seems to have an unwavering confidence. Last season on loan at Hull he received some good reports bit unfortunately his appearances were cut short by injuries.

So that’s our bunch I’ve left out Manuel because he as we all know has had his day. I think despite that Szczesny has been given squad number 13 for the forthcoming season that he will be first choice, although I expect Wenger to make plenty of noise that Fabianski is still in the running to keep the younger of the two Poles in check throughout the season.

So what about our rivals?

Manchester United, after losing Van Der Saar who has been unquestionably the best keeper in the league for the last three or four seasons Ferguson has decided to invest in youth. He has signed the 20 year old De Gea, however the noises coming out of Old Trafford are not resoundingly positive. Ferguson has signed him it appears because he feels he missed out on Cech at a similar age due to worrying about age.

The goalkeeping coach has cast some doubt on his decision making saying he expected him to come for a high ball that led to a conceded goal in a pre season friendly, a view Ferguson shared before retracting his comments and saying he didn’t think he had a chance with the goal. Additionally Ferguson has questioned his physical build. He is not a fluent English speaker and therefore will have a communication issue.

With Kuszczak requesting a move away from Old Trafford Ferguson is left with Anders Lindergard (27) and the young Ben Amos (20) as cover should De Gea be left out for any reason. I think United have left themselves remarkably exposed in this area.

Chelsea have Cech who has never recovered the form he showed before his unfortunate collision with Hunt’s shin (accidental my arse). He still remains one of the best shot stoppers in the league but his timidness in aerial duels since that injury has led to Chelsea looking more vulnerable from set pieces. Like Ferdinand and Vidic, Terry and teammates have never looked comfortable with anyone else behind them, so for them an injury to Cech would leave them fielding Turnbull or Hilario, Hilario has often been called upon and found wanting, Turnbull has less experience but is probably second choice. Combined Hilario and Turnbull they have made 26 appearances in five years.

Spurs have signed the ageing Friedel, whilst last season he continued to defy his age with superb performances for Villa he is not getting any younger, older goalkeepers hit an age where everything looks great one day and two weeks later the age starts to tell and the injuries mount up. Gomes always makes me smile as despite some great shot stopping he is always prone to an error or two. As extra cover they have Cudicini who I would have liked to see us sign when Lehman departed.

The Twitcher has assembled an experienced group of goalkeepers but only Cudicini has ever set the world alight on the top level and at 37 his best days are behind him as he proved last year. His game was all about shot stopping and agility, you just can’t keep that going into your late thirties as a keeper and to survive at the top level you need to rely on your mind more than your body.

Man City have Joe Hart who benefited from a season long loan in with Birmingham to return to City last season and capture the starting slot. He is probably the most complete young goalkeeper in this crop and will go on to be one of the best England has produced. With Given left for Villa the only cover at Eastlands is provided by ex Arsenal trainee Stuart Taylor, who at the age of 30 has never found a regular Number One berth that he desired when he left. The other backup is Neilsen. Like Chelsea reserve keepers these two have only a handful of games at the top flight and any serious injury to Hart would leave them also exposed.

Liverpool still have Reina who Carragher has called the best goalkeeper in the world (after gifting us an equaliser at the start of last season) despite not even being Spain’s number one. I think he is good in every aspect of keeping but he is not great in any. As an ever present he has also prevented the reserve keepers any game time so if any injury occurs they would also be exposed to fielding Brad Jones or the untested Doni.

Having taken a more detailed look at the goalkeepers among our closest rivals it is difficult to see why our goalkeeping options are so maligned. It is without doubt a fact that we have not had a number one since Lehman good enough for the level we compete at. However take the main keeper away from City, Chelsea or Liverpool and they look very vulnerable, Spurs have assembled a group of experienced but hardly world class keepers and United find themselves in a similar position to us, except they have spent a lot more acquiring the group.

I hope that Szczesny continues to improve and we can finally put the goalkeeping question to bed and be safe in the knowledge we have a keeper for the next ten to fifteen years who we can trust. What I would ask of Wenger is that our young keepers coming through are sent on loan to other Premier League clubs as for keepers the only place to learn is at the sharp end, and I’d rather that it be at the expense of WBA or Wigan than for us.

183 Comments | Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by peachesgÖÖner

If You Booed After Yesterday’s Game Please Don’t Ever Come Back To The Emirates Again

August 1, 2011

A pre-season friendly.

Substantial team changes for the starting 11. Even more substantial changes at half time and subsequently.

Young, up-and-coming Arsenal players like Bartley and Afobe getting a run out.

Nobody wanting to get injured before the serious stuff starts in a couple of weeks.

And you booed the team?

You, who call yourself am Arsenal supporter, booed your team because they failed to win a meaningless pre-season runaround?

What is wrong with you?

And before you start typing your response in the Internet equivalent of big green letters (which usually means ALL CAPITALS and lotsa bad spellin an txt talk cos u no shit man u no wot I’m sain?), I am not an apologist for Arsène Wenger.

I was deeply unhappy with the way last season ended, just like all Arsenal fans; I think changes need to be made and transfers brought in to help us avoid a similar collapse this season; I do not think Arsene Wenger is beyond criticism.

But despite my reservations I am and always will be a supporter of Arsenal, which means that when they take the field they have my total support, whoever is in the line-up, whatever is the opposition and whatever is the performance.

For the duration of the game I will do nothing but be behind them – it’s what supporters are meant to do, or have you forgotten? Afterwards, in the pub, I might well say that Player X is not good enough for us or that AW made a Horlicks of his substitutions. That’s different.

If you were one of yesterday’s boo boys (or girls – for there seem to be plenty of hatchet-faced harridans among the ranks of the discontented at The Emirates) you should seriously ask yourself why you go to the games at all.

If you get your kicks from looking for any reason to have a go at an individual player, or the manager, or the team then you are not a supporter at all. You are an Unsupporter. And your Unsupport, as well as being stupid, I’ll-informed and rude, is counter-productive to what genuine supporters want: a good atmosphere at the ground and fervent support for the lads so that they raise their game, rather than shy away from the ball for fear of incurring the wrath of the idiotic minority.

You Unsupporters are probably the same people who slam Nasri and even Cesc for having no loyalty.

Loyalty? You wouldn’t know loyalty if it knelt at your feet.

What must Benik Afobe feel today? He has played in front of a packed house at his own ground, he has shared the turf with an icon of the stature of Thierry Henry, and he was booed off the pitch.

Likewise Kyle Bartley, who had the added misfortune to put the ball in his own net.

Are you trying to destroy these kids before they have had a chance to show what they can do?

What do you think they – and Jack Wilshere and Aaron Ramsey and Tomas Vermaelen – think about you, the discontented minority?

You know what I think, I think they despise you and I just hope to God that they recognize that you represent only a truculent rump of the Arsenal support. In fact, not even a rump, just the festering boil on the rump.

Take it from me – and I know I speak for the vast majority of true Arsenal fans – we do not want you; the players do not want you; the club does not need you.

So, with all due disrespect, will you kindly PISS OFF and never come back…

RockyLives

352 Comments | Uncategorized | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by RockyLives

Arsenal Draw – but what conclusions?

July 31, 2011

Written by Gooner in Exile

Back at the Home of Football to the traditional start of footballing season entertainment known as the Emirates Cup.

This is normally a fun filled affair where we take on a couple of fair to middling teams put some skilful moves together introduce a few youngsters and send the punters home happy.

I disregarded TotalArsenals advice yesterday and watched on ESPN with the volume up, like a scab I couldn’t stop picking, and before long the inanity of Champion’s and Burley’s mutterings were winding me up more than they should for a game with nothing riding on it.

Apparently Van Persie doesn’t like attacking the near post. Cue Robin stage centre attacking the goal and getting on the end of a lovely counter which started with a Wilshere pass to Gervinho who drove forward and provided a great cross for Robin to do what he does best. 1-0 Arsenal and alls well with the world again.

We started the match rather disjointed and seemed to be a little leggy.

There were occasional glimpses of why Jenkinson and Gervinho have been brought in, however Nasri went a long way to justify not giving a pay rise with an anonymous performance in the advanced midfield role.

There should have been a penalty in the first five minutes when Wilshere was clearly fouled but Atkinson did what English refs do and assumed Jack must of been summer holidaying with Tom Daley and waved away the appeals. Oh well I guess it’s the refs preseason too.

Boca were professional, they set about disrupting our rhythm by fouling wherever they could as is the prescribed tactic against us. Jack was most often on the receiving end.

The high line played by our defence with no pressure on the ball led to a couple of opportunities for Boca but we reached half time unscathed.

The second half brought a number of changes, Robin, Jack, Fabianski, Gervinho and Kozzer making way for Chamakh, Ramsey, Vela, Squillacci and Mannone.

Within a minute of the restart Vela had jinked his way past a couple and the ball rolled to Ramsey who struck a good drive into the net, 2-0 cue feelings of happy days to come. I liked this goal because again it proved to me that faced with a likely impact Ramsey is not suffering the same mental frailty that understandably reduced Eduardo’s goalscoring knack.

After that the Arsenal performance slowly petered out, a lack of balance to the side, Chamakh drifting on to the left wing when he should be occupying the 18 yard box.

Frimpong started getting overrun in midfield and leaving our defence exposed. I thought he had a reasonable game but he seemed to lose energy in the second half, although he wasn’t exactly helped by teammates. The defensive midfield role at Arsenal really is a thankless task.

And then the familiar site of Squilacci behaving randomly for a Centre Back  he had already steam rollered Jenkinson in a fashion not seen since he headbutted Kozzer last season and then got caught in possession Boca didn’t need inviting twice and duly got a goal back.

Not long after and it was Djourous turn to gift one, first to the ball but under pressure he inexplicably missed the ball with his sliding clearance and the eager Boca player chasing him picked up the ball and equalised.

From then on Champion and Burley had a field day as they set about telling us all how regular an occurrence this all is at the Arsenal. Some of the support appears to agree having had a quick look on Twitter. As always the wins in our other preseason games have been forgotten and everyone wants to concentrate on this draw and the way it happened.

Okay so what did we learn?

  1. Jenkinson and Gervinho are good acquisitions.
  2. We really do need one more Centre Back to complete the squad. Maybe we will get to see him today if its Bartley.
  3.  Mannone is third choice.
  4. Robin and Jack are looking to continue where they left off as is Kozzer.
  5. Traore may be the answer at left back I thought he had a reasonable game.
  6. Nasri can’t play the advanced midfield role, or can’t play it like Cesc, his propensity to want to dribble rather than pass is one of the things that slows our progress up the pitch.
  7. Our new defending set piece approach is zonal marking, a system employed by Adams, Keown et al. For this to work we need at least four players over 6ft (five players best in my opinion) to patrol the key areas. I think it can work I would just like to see us take it a yard further out for a starting position.

Hopefully we will get more of an idea in the first half against Red Bulls as to what our likely starting lineup against Newcastle in two weeks will be. I doubt Nasri, Frimpong, Traore or Jenkinson will feature having played 90 minutes yesterday.

I’d also like to see Bartley and Afobe get a run out to give us all a positive vibe about the squad this coming season.
Enjoy the game AA’ers who are making the pilgrimage have a Peroni for me.

106 Comments | Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by Rasp

Ooh, how to be a happy Gooner this season

July 30, 2011

They say that ‘absence makes the heart grow fonder’, and after a small eternity of not seeing the mighty Arse play, I cannot wait for the new season to start. Simply seeing our players on a green pitch again during recent friendly games, made me realise how much I’ve really missed our team over the last few months.

I am full of optimism about the forthcoming season, and feel that this could be our year. Just watching Jenkinson, Gibbs, Vermaelen and Koscielny running around with such energy and eagerness in recent friendlies, made my mouth water. The triangle of Song, Rambo and Jack seems to have transformed over the summer into a confident, multi-skilled and graceful midfield war-machine, and then there is also the delight of proper, fast and effective wing/attacking-play by the likes of Ryo, Theo, Arshavin and Gervinho. Most of our established stars, for various reasons, have been taking it easy during pre-season. It is going to be a long season, so I do not mind at all. Take it easy boys and focus on what really matters this season: carrying the team through the difficult patches that we will undoubtedly have to face again.

The one thing I am wary about though, is the way the ‘outside world’ will be trying their hardest to spoil our enjoyment of the new season.

TV football commentators, especially those of Sky, are the biggest culprits. I cannot stand to have to hear again and again and again the oh so familiar and regurgitated platitudes such as: ‘Arsenal have not won a major trophy for six years and counting’, or that ‘Arsenal’s beautiful football is pointless if it does not deliver titles and cups’, or that we ‘do not do ugly goals but always want to pass ‘it’ into the goal’, or that we ‘Southern Sissies’ cannot take it if we are being roughed up by the teams ‘Up North’ etc, etc. Does this sound familiar to you?

Then there are the newspaper articles and fan blogs. For a while the Newspapers will look for ways to build us up, only to drop us again at the earliest convenience. The smallest thing that goes wrong and all the above mentioned platitudes will be in our faces again. The fan blogs will also be full of the articles based on ‘I told you so – nothing has changed’ rhetoric, as soon as we lose or even draw a game. On top of all of that, we will have to put up with fans from other, recently ‘more successful’ teams at work, in the pub, within our families and from our friends.

I know I am not the only one who gets affected by all this negativity, and that’s why I have formulated eight tips to build up the necessary immunity, in order to enjoy the new season as best as possible

Tip 1: Manage your own expectations: our team has the potential to win one or more cups this season, but there are no guarantees. The higher the expectations the harder we could fall. I rather have high aspirations but more realistic expectations.

Tip 2:  Keep believing in Wengerball – success is so near and lady luck might be on our side this year.

Tip 3: Don’t jump to conclusions if and when we lose a game: last season once again showed us that our campaign had many twist and turns and that the outcome of an individual game, either positive (beating Citeh away and the Chavs at home) or negative (drawing at Wigan and at Newcastle), does not predict the way we will finish.

Tip 4: Try not to think too much ahead and only focus on the next game coming.

Tip 5: Be very selective about which papers and blogs you read, and footie TV programmes you watch: choose those that take a fair/balanced approach and avoid those that are scripted to be negative about Arsenal whenever possible (vast majority at the moment). Arsenal Arsenal is the best place to be, most of the times.

Tip 6:  Turn off the sound of your TV-set when watching our team: I found this very helpful last season, especially during the second half when the commentators get tired and start reading of their sheet of ‘cheap and easy platitudes’.

Tip 7:  Tape the good games, and watch them again and again when you are feeling low.

Tip 8:  Keep telling yourself and subsequently your colleagues, friends and members of the family that there is nothing better than to be a Gooner: six years without success is nothing compared to our fantastic, trophy-full history; we are a model of financial sustainability to all clubs in the UK/Europe/World, and play a brand of football that everyone wants to watch. We might not always get to our destinations, but our journeys are eventful and laced with excitement and splendour. This video could not summarise any better on what it is to be Gooner:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDzQCg-Liqw

 

Wishing you all a fantastic football season, and hopefully some silverware at the end,

TotalArsenal.

156 Comments | Uncategorized | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by Rasp

Arsenal’s ‘F’ Plan Diet – eat up and stop pushing your greens around your plate

July 29, 2011

Written by Camberwell Gooner

Resumption of hostilities is just around the corner. Like the starving dog stumbling through the streets on his last legs in search of a morsel, we’re starting to catch whiffs of steak wafting from a nearby kitchen, giving us renewed hope that we will actually make it to the new season before the municipal authorities bundle us in a van and drop us off at the city pound. Or something.

In a mere two and a half weeks, genuine, real, tangible football will be with us again and no longer will my Saturday nights be aimless, no longer will I look forward to the weekend with only a vague sense of what I’ll be doing and no longer will I have nothing to listen to when I’m washing up. Yes indeed, life will have purpose again.

And this also means that, for the next nine months, none of us will have to put up with any of the following: pre-season posturing between fans egged on by the slimy little life forms known as journalists (depressingly familiar announcement: Arsenal are doomed to 5th again while Pool, Manure, Citeh and Chelsea will take the top four spots), industrial amounts of tripe in the media about new transfers, waiting for Wenger to actually sign someone. (Insert pre-season irritant of choice here.)

The problem is, all of the above are so many insect bites on the arse of every fan. They itch like bastards and you know that scratching them will only make them worse but each scratch brings delicious, momentary relief. Then back comes the itch, the desire to find any little scrap of info about a new signing.

And wouldn’t it be just fantastically, arse-kickingly, John-Terry-stampingly, Stoke-beatingly awesome to log on and find Wenger has signed who we need and that we’re ready to challenge seriously for the title while stamping on John Terry and beating Stoke (in the face, repeatedly)? It really would, but you and I know about as much about what’s going on behind the scenes at the Ems as I do about Wenger’s favourite boxers.

*tries not imagine Wenger in boxers, fails, shudders*

Sadly, the same goes for our final league position come next May – we’re all in the dark, and that includes the know-all gobshites from other clubs and our friends the cow-manure-spouting hacks. We can all agree more signings are needed if we really want to challenge, but (a) they don’t guarantee us a trophy and (b) will the sky really fall in if we only get one more and lose one or both of the Annual Super Arsenal Summer Selloff Boys (aka ASASSB 1 & 2)?

If any part of (b) happens, I will not be a happy bunny. I’ll probably even be put off my breakfast egg (one of my Favourite Things). But what I won’t do is go around with a face longer than Southend Pier and start chucking my toys out of my pram (nanny would only make me pick them up again).

Whatever happens, I just want to enjoy my football without fixating on trophies and the Champions League and the top-four mini-league and all this other stuff which is icing on the cake of course, but do you only eat the icing? I know dessert can be the best part of the meal but before you get your paws on the sticky toffee pudding you’ve got to get through the leek and potato soup and your meat and two veg. So you might as well enjoy your starter and main because in football there’s no guarantee of dessert.

99 Comments | Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by peachesgÖÖner

Wenger Has Made Two Signings That Will Transform Arsenal’s Season

July 28, 2011

While we all wait eagerly to see who else will be added to Arsenal’s squad this summer, it’s worth pointing out that the two most important signings have already been made.

Aaron Ramsey and Jack Wilshere were signed to long term contracts in June and November last year respectively.

Given the near certainty that we will start the new season without either or both of Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri, it is tempting to feel downhearted.

Losing Cesc, in particular, would be a body blow because he is rightly regarded as one of the top players in the world. For the statisticians among you, I believe he was named as the most effective player in Europe last year.

But even were he to go I just cannot join the ranks of the breast-beaters and hair-wringers, precisely because we have Jack and Aaron waiting in the wings.

Jack has already demonstrated – in just one season of first team football – that he is one of the best players in the EPL.

I was challenged in comments recently to outline what Jack currently contributes to the team (as opposed to what he might contribute in the future).

The more I thought about it, the more obvious it was that his contribution is phenomenal: short passing, medium passing, long passing, defence-splitting through balls, vision, ability to pick out attackers’ runs, non-stop effort, tackling, tenacity, courage, leading by example…

Frightening when you think that he is not the finished article yet. But he is already good enough for the England manager to build the national team around him and he was one of the stand-out players across the whole of the EPL last year.

Aaron’s development, as we all know, was delayed by the thuggishness of Ryan Shawcross, but he made a welcome return to the first team towards the end of the last campaign.

Before his horrific injury he was showing a Gerrard-esque ability to dictate play, pass the ball and make surging runs into the box. He also has a knack for finding the back of the net (something Wilshere has yet to acquire).

Again, he is an outstanding talent who will prove to be one of the best midfielders of his generation.

That Arsenal should be lucky enough to have two such prodigies available to us is a cause for huge optimism. I fully expect them to form a midfield partnership that will be unsurpassed in the English league for years to come.

Incidentally, I rate both of them as already having more talent that Samir Nasri. I love Nasri’s dribbling ability and his finishing, but whenever he has played in the so-called Cesc role he has looked lost and the team has struggled. He does not have the vision or passing range of either Wilshere or Ramsey.

If Cesc stays for one more year I will be delighted. But if not, it will be time for the next generation to step up.

Get ready for the Jack and Aaron show. It’s going to be something really, really special.

RockyLives

130 Comments | Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
Posted by RockyLives

Tapping-up is bad, Right?

July 27, 2011

Written by 26may1989

The rules say that a club wanting to acquire a player must get the consent of the player’s current club before beginning a discussion of any sort with the player:

“Any Club which by itself, by any of its Officials, by any of its Players, by its Agent, by any other Person on its behalf or by any other means whatsoever makes an approach either directly or indirectly to a Contract Player except as permitted by either Rule K.1.2 or Rule K.2 shall be in breach of these Rules …” (Rule K.3 of the Rules of the Premier League).

Couldn’t be clearer (and it’s backed up by FIFA regulations and regulations governing agents): any approach, direct or indirect, is verboten.

But despite the clarity of the rules, Arsène Wenger said this week that: “it is a rule that has to be reviewed. It’s not really respected.” And you can understand where Wenger’s coming from when, with delicious timing, the very next day Patrice Evra showed he felt no compunction in openly demonstrated that the rules mean nothing to him:

“Of course I’ve talked a lot with [Nasri] in the holiday and also when we met up for friendly games with France at the end of the season. I told him how great it is to play for United and how important it would be for him to become of the biggest players in the world. … I just told him how good it would be for him coming here. He will have a nice welcome, and I can help as well because I’m French. …. I would definitely tell him to come to United. Definitely. I made that little joke saying that he’s a prince now but if he wants to be the king then he has to join United. But that’s the reality, and I’ve told him that. I said, ‘If you want to win trophies you have to come here.’ …. I just told him the truth.”

Could there be a more obvious breach of the rules?

We feel righteously bitter about yet another no-mark blatantly unsettling one of our best players, a feeling that is made more acute by the feeling of fragility and vulnerability at Arsenal this summer. But here’s a thought: perhaps the prohibition on tapping-up should be scrapped.

It is often said that a law that is routinely broken is a bad law. And it is clear that football’s rules against tapping-up are broken every day of the week. Gary Lineker wrote a good article back in 2006 (see http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/2346447/Tapping-up-isnt-illegal-so-why-have-this-stupid-rule.html), explaining how frequent tapping-up is, and how in some ways it is not only inevitable, but necessary. After all, there is an air of unreality in the idea that the would-be buying club approaches a player’s current club, and both then embark on a full-blown negotiation process, without any idea whether the player would join the new club. Similarly, a club that wants to sell may be reluctant to dilute its bargaining position by openly stating at the outset that it’s looking to offload a player.

But regardless of the rights and wrongs of the rules (and believe me, I get as wound up as anyone when I see the latest comments from Xavi, Puyol, Rossell, Ferguson, Mancini or Evra), if the rules are ignored more often than they are observed, what’s the point? And, while Arsenal may well be relative angels in this area, I’m sure our club breaches the rules too: does anyone seriously think Chamakh didn’t know he had an Arsenal contract in the bag before he began to wind down his contract at Bordeaux? And how would he have known? Because someone told him Wenger wanted him. Or more accurately, told his agent.

So, rather than perpetuate this torture of waiting for the rules to be enforced every time the vultures circle, let’s be more honest and scrap the rules against tapping-up, and just allow conversations to flow in a more grown-up manner. That way, we can just get on with hating Evra for being an odious little nerk.

67 Comments | Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by peachesgÖÖner

« Previous Entries
Next Entries »